Man jailed for 43 months after staging Edinburgh robbery

The incident occurred on West Granton Road

Craig Parkes took part in the raid on a bookmakers with an accomplice and managed to escape with £295 after demanding money.

The 24-year-old from Manchester had travelled to Edinburgh with others but was planning to return south on January 2, 2014.

His counsel, Shelagh McCall QC, told the High Court in Edinburgh: “He was intending to travel back on Janaury 2 by himself by train. He did not appreciate that it is a public holiday in Scotland.”

“The train timetable was different. He didn’t catch the train as planned. He had run out of money,” she said.

She said Parkes had found himself in the Granton area of the city before staging the raid on a branch of Ladbrokes in West Granton Road.

Parkes admitted that while acting with another he repeatedly kicked a door in the premises and shouted and demanded money from employee Matthew Smart and robbed him.

The court heard that the robbery was captured on CCTV footage and the film was shown to the judge, Lady Rae.

Parkes face was partially concealed during the raid, but could be clearly seen as he left the bookmakers.

The court was told that the robber had shouted “very aggressively” during the crime and that the cash taken was never recovered.

Advocate depute Graeme Jessop said police suspected the perpetrators might be from Manchester and officers from England who viewed the CCTV positively identified Parkes as being the taller of the robbers.

Miss McCall said that Parkes was leading a chaotic lifestyle at the time and was homeless and on drugs. She said that on the day of the offence he had taken “legal highs”.

Lady Rae told Parkes that she would have jailed him for four years for the offence, but would reduce that following his guilty plea.